Blade Bodyguard

I cringe every time I see an ice skate in a horror movie… you know that thing is going in someone’s head! You’d think that would be a reminder to be extra careful, but accidents still happen with those super sharp blades. Kootsu’s new skateguard protects both the blade & the user with a patented spring-activated catch & release mechanism that allows the unit to be installed on the skate blade with minimal contact & effort. A widened rubber sole also enables the user to safely walk in the them as if they were shoes.

11 Comments

Works well for figure skates. Looks like these guards may not fit around the plastic holder on hockey skates though. Maybe a more universal design for all skate types – a flexible material in the cut groove to allow hockey skates to fit in.

Figure skaters always use hard guards and never leave them on their skates when they’re in storage. Those rubber mats are full of grit and garbage that will dull or even damage your $500 blades. Worse, if your blade picks up a chunk of hockey tape or a bandaid or something off the floor and you step on the ice without noticing it, you could end up taking a header into the boards and losing a tooth.

Hard guards are ONLY for walking from the dressing room to the ice and back. And you’re right, they will rust your blades. That’s why we use “soakers” when the skates are in storage. So these fancy guards DO serve a purpose. The standard “Guard Dog” guards are difficult to walk in and almost impossible on stairs… let alone walking out to the car if you forget something. I’ve done that a couple times in Guard Dogs and it’s very painful.

Funny, I’ve been searching for these guards ever since I saw someone accidentally – and safely!!! – step onto the ice while wearing them, having forgotten to take them off. Since this has happened to me more than once (and one time causing a serious knee injury), I decided I HAD to get a pair of these.

I haven’t yet found a way to get them in the U.S. But in the process of searching, I see comment after comment ridiculing them for what I think are ridiculous , irrelevant reasons, and not one person has mentioned that very welcome safety feature for the skater who enters the ice without remembering to remove guards.

For this reason only, I wish they were available in the states. Canadians aren’t the only one who deserve this kind of protection!